Mailbag:  General Conference Predictions

The Thought Provoker:

Matt is up first this week. You guys are always telling me how Elon Musk is a proponent of free speech. Well, two things came up this week that suggest he is not. First, A federal judge on Monday threw out a lawsuit by Elon Musk’s X that had targeted a watchdog group for its critical reports about hate speech on the social media platform. Second, The number of people using X daily is falling. A platform that was once the best place for free speech is on the decline because of how he is managing it. So Musk sues people who track hate speech on X, while driving people away from the platform. Isn’t the most moral thing for Musk to take X public again, cut his losses, and move on?

Next up, Sam, "What is up with this?"

Finally, Shawn. "Oregon measure 110. In 2021, the year that Measure 110 went into effect, Oregon saw a 41% increase in fentanyl-related overdose deaths. Many Oregonians consider Measure 110 a failed experiment.  Of 7000 tickets only 200 calls and even less who went into rehab. Recently the Oregon house voted 51-7 kicking bipartisan House Bill 4002 to the Senate. The new bill would unwind voter passed bill 110.
Even though the outcome of the decriminalization bill was negative and deaths went up, is it desirable to have states experiment with various ways to solve societies problems? When states experiment with new tactics, do they provide us with good case studies of what we should and shouldn’t do in order to thrive? Does the Oregon decriminalization experiment and reversal show that people on both sides of politics are really trying to do good? "

The Big Question:  The UofU women’s basketball team travelled to Spokane Washington to compete in the NCAA women's basketball tournament. They stayed in a hotel in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, which is about 30 miles from Spokane. While walking to a restaurant, the women were targeted by racists. They said, “You think in our world, in athletics and the university settings, it's shocking. There's so much diversity on a college campus and so you're just not exposed to that very often.” Do you think that it is true that people are more racist outside of college campuses and athletics? If so, does a college education provide the best cure for racism in the United States?